●Le Brassus · Vallée de Joux · 2006 →

A craft I watched come to life.
And one that keeps being reborn.

Twenty years in sourcing. The right moment to talk about it, because with AI, the whole game is being replayed.

Independent sourcer Pioneer in continental Europe Trainer · FR + EN Speaker · 9 countries
Portrait of Guillaume Alexandre, founder of Gates Solutions
Le Brassus · Switzerland Guillaume Alexandre
Identity cartouche

Guillaume Alexandre, sourcer since 2005, independent since 2006. Twenty years in recruitment, eleven of them 100% dedicated to sourcing. Based in Le Brassus, in the Vallée de Joux (Vaud, Switzerland), the watchmaking valley, 50 minutes from Geneva. Founder of Gates Solutions Sàrl, created in 2011 and refocused in 2015 on pure sourcing. Former Senior Technical Sourcer at Meta Reality Labs (2022–2024), on international Advanced Research profiles. Former external consultant at Philip Morris International (13 months, 2018–2019), structuring sourcing at a global scale. Specialised in sourcing for highly advanced R&D, deep tech, AI and quantum computing (notably Alice & Bob). Twice finalist of the SourceCon GrandMaster Challenge (Atlanta, 2017 and 2019), Red Shoes Award of the Sourcing Summit Europe, first francophone to deliver a keynote at SourceCon US in March 2020. Co-organiser of the TruGeneva unconference until 2022. Speaker in 9 countries, FR + EN. More than 100 companies served, 450+ completed hires, 55+ sourcing missions since 2015. Some clients have been coming back for more than ten years. Author of the People Attraction Theory method, a training programme for sourcers and recruiters delivered in bootcamp and in-house. Advisory in RecOps (Recruitment Operations) for heads of Talent Acquisition: ATS audit, function structuring, process modelling. Author of AI tools for the HR community via the Gates AI Lab.

The making of a craftsman

Twenty years, in nine chapters.

A path that never went through the « career plan » box. Each chapter arrived in response to what the craft was becoming. That is exactly how it is learned.

  1. 2004, 2005
    Chapter 01 · The apprenticeship

    The craft discovered by accident. And taken very seriously.

    Business school, then a first job as a researcher in an executive search firm. At the time, the word « sourcing » did not exist yet. Neither did the techniques. Everything had to be invented, which is exactly what hooked me.

    First firm · Executive search · Pre-sourcing
  2. 2005, 2006
    Chapter 02 · London

    The City. SAP. The conviction.

    Off to London, in a firm specialised in SAP. The brief: build the permanent recruiting practice from zero. No database, no reputation, no one answering job ads. Data became the main tool, not the phone, the data.

    That is where the conviction that would guide everything else was born: identifying the right people beats reaching out to many.

    London · SAP · Direct approach · Pre-sourcing
  3. 2006, 2011
    Chapter 03 · Geneva

    Switzerland. Scarcity. Specialisation.

    Arrival in Geneva in 2006 to open the Swiss office. Very quickly, scarcity of IT engineers and SAP profiles, competition between firms is fierce, everyone chases the same people. Innovation is mandatory.

    Quick specialisation: luxury, watchmaking, finance, the pioneering industries of advanced sourcing in French-speaking Switzerland. The foundations of what would become Gates were laid quietly, by successive referrals. Some clients from those years are still with me today.

    Geneva · Luxury · Watchmaking · Finance · Direct approach
  4. 2011, 2015
    Chapter 04 · The growing firm

    Founding Gates. Guillaume Alexandre Talent & Executive Search.

    Creation of Gates Solutions in the canton of Geneva, with a laptop and a phone. The firm grew quickly, the team too, up to twelve people. And gradually, the conviction settled in: the bigger the structure, the less I was doing the craft I loved. Something was off, it would take a few years to admit.

    Gates Solutions · Canton of Geneva · 12 staff · Growth
  5. 2015
    Chapter 05 · The turn

    Reinvent everything. Restart with one person on staff: me.

    Radical decision: drop the firm model, go back to being a sourcer. Reconfigure the business model entirely, first in continental Europe to offer outsourced sourcing as a 30-day mission. Inspirations: Sandrine Théard, Sébastien Savard, and the international sourcing community.

    Pivot 100% sourcing · Outsourced sourcing · 30 days/mission
  6. 2015, 2022
    Chapter 06 · The pioneer

    SourceCon, Sourcing Summit, Red Shoes. And, behind the scenes, TruGeneva.

    Twice finalist of the SourceCon GrandMaster Challenge (Atlanta, 2017 and 2019). Red Shoes Award of the Sourcing Summit Europe for 10+ editions. First francophone to deliver a keynote at SourceCon US in March 2020 (just before the pandemic). More than 20 conferences in 9 countries, FR and EN.

    Alongside, the less visible work, that of the community. Co-founding and organising TruGeneva, Geneva's reference HR unconference, for nearly a decade, with a team federated around the project. Hand-over to a new team in 2022, because what we build does not belong to us forever.

    SourceCon GrandMaster · Red Shoes Award · TruGeneva · US keynote
  7. 2018, 2019
    Chapter 07 · The global mission

    Philip Morris International. Thirteen months. Structuring sourcing at world scale.

    Thirteen months on an external consultant mission for Philip Morris International, part-time, the other half of the week on Gates missions. Designing and rolling out the sourcing function at a global scale, to support the biggest business transformation of the moment (the « smoke-free future »).

    Not a sourcing mission, a structuring mission. Defining the model, the roles, equipping the teams, setting the method. Another craft inside the craft, that of the architect who draws the workshop before running it.

    PMI · External consultant · Global sourcing · 13 months · Structuring
  8. 2022, 2024
    Chapter 08 · Meta Reality Labs

    Senior Technical Sourcer. Advanced Research. The view from above.

    Internal detour: Senior Technical Sourcer at Meta Reality Labs, on Advanced Research profiles internationally (worldwide scope excluding the United States). The chance to see sourcing from the other side of the mirror, that of the giants. And to measure, at full scale, what really changes and what stays.

    Meta · Reality Labs · Advanced Research · International
  9. 2024, today
    Chapter 09 · The workshop back in motion

    Back to independence, in a watchmaking valley.

    Exit from Meta, return to Gates. Five activity pillars: sourcing, training (People Attraction Theory), RecOps, AI Lab (AI tools), speaking. Move to Le Brassus, in the Vallée de Joux, early 2025, at the heart of Swiss watchmaking, where precision is not a slogan, and where the sourcer's craft naturally finds its place: same taste for detail, same zero tolerance for approximation.

    And the field that has always fascinated me: highly advanced R&D. Years sourcing pointed profiles in physics, AI, machine learning. The Meta Reality Labs interlude pushed that muscle to the max on Advanced Research. Today, sourcing for Alice & Bob, one of the world leaders in fault-tolerant quantum computing, identifying experimentalists in superconducting qubits and cat-qubit physics, reading arXiv papers, tracking co-authors, understanding what each research team in the world is actually doing. The tech, yes. But above all the frontiers.

    Horizon: supporting the AI shift of the craft without conceding anything on the quality of the gesture.

    Gates Solutions · Le Brassus · Watchmaking valley · Advanced R&D · Quantum · Alice & Bob · People Attraction Theory · Responsible AI
The hallmark

The proof. Without wrapping.

The poinçon, in watchmaking, is the guarantee mark that a piece has passed the test. Here, those are the sourcing tests passed.

2×
Finalist, SourceCon GrandMaster Challenge
Atlanta · 2017 & 2019
1st
Francophone keynote at SourceCon US
Atlanta · March 2020
Red
Shoes
Award of the Sourcing Summit Europe
10+ editions · Lifetime access
9
Countries where I have spoken
FR · CH · NL · UA · DE · BE · UK · CA · US
20+
International conferences
Sourcing, recruitment, AI · FR + EN
100+
Companies served
Including Meta, Microsoft, AXA, L'Occitane, Doctolib, Michelin, CERN, Alice & Bob, PMI
450+
Completed hires
Over 20 years, by direct approach
55+
Outsourced sourcing missions
Since 2015 · Some clients 10×+
1st
Outsourced sourcing in continental Europe
Pioneering format · Still unique today
On stage

Twenty years of passing it on.

Twenty international conferences in nine countries. Sourcing Summit, SourceCon, TruEvents, HR shows. And the conviction that a fast-changing craft is not to be kept to oneself, hence the years co-organising TruGeneva, federating a team, then handing over.

Guillaume Alexandre giving a keynote at Sourcing Summit Europe, Amsterdam, 2017
Amsterdam · 2017 Sourcing Summit Europe
Guillaume Alexandre on a panel at Sourcing Summit Europe, Amsterdam, 2018
Amsterdam · 2018 Sourcing Summit Europe
Guillaume Alexandre speaking at Salon RH, 2024
Geneva · 2024 Salon RH Suisse
Notables SourceCon US keynote · Atlanta · 2020 SourceCon GrandMaster final · 2017 & 2019 TruGeneva co-organiser · until 2022 + FR · CH · NL · UA · DE · BE · UK · CA
The craft, my definition

Sourcing means taking a market apart to understand where the right people are.

Data is everywhere. On LinkedIn, on GitHub, on arXiv, in communities, in conferences, in threads, in public CVs, in what people write and in what they do not say. The sourcer is the craftsman who knows how to read that data, interpret it, and turn it into human relationships.

They identify profiles no one else will find. They qualify them before reaching out. They speak to them about an opportunity they were not expecting, telling the truth about the company. They prepare ground on which the in-house recruiter can decide with peace of mind.

It is the craft of a technical right hand, but above all a craft of interface: between the company and the outside world, between data and relationship, between what a role looks like on paper and what it will become for the person who takes it on.

No job ads. No CV database. Only direct approach. That is the definition of the craft, and it is why it does not resemble any other recruitment craft.

A few missions, among hundreds
  • Experimental physicists in quantum computing for Alice & Bob, superconducting qubits and cat-qubits, arXiv reading, co-author tracking, world-lab mapping.
  • Advanced Research profiles for Meta Reality Labs, fundamental research in augmented and virtual reality, computer vision, optics, perception, computational neuroscience.
  • A SAP Director recruited from the Gaza Strip to support the United Nations in rolling out their information system.
  • Structural engineers for nuclear installations, a mission so confidential I still do not know where the sites were located.
  • Candidates flown to Geneva without knowing which brand they were interviewing for, and who left without knowing either, but wanting the role. Luxury, watchmaking, high-confidentiality finance.
  • Airport planners able to think through a terminal from the landing strip to the boutique pricing grid, based on simulated passenger flows.
The present moment

On the AI shift.

Sourcing has, from day one, been a data craft, identifying the right information, structuring it, cross-referencing it. When models capable of doing that at scale arrived, there was no hesitation. I jumped in feet first.

01 What changes

Identification, massively. Where it used to take weeks to map a research domain, it now takes days. Where it took manual scrolling through LinkedIn databases, we build tools that pull, score, rank at scale. This is not comfort any more, it is a complete change of the right-hand toolkit.

And each new iteration, ChatGPT, then vibe coding (Lovable, Cursor), then Claude Code, then new versions of Google AI Studio, pushes the boundary between what we can imagine and what we can actually build. The friction is no longer technical. It is in the understanding.

02 What does not change

Human conversation. Fine-grained understanding of the need. The ability to see the big picture, grasp the real stakes, know exactly what we are looking for before we start looking. No model does that for me, and and I doubt any will, anytime soon.

The role even becomes more strategic. When everyone has access to the same identification capabilities, the difference is what we do with them: how we define the need, how we frame the search, how we re-read what the machine proposes to tell the signal from the noise.

03 What we do with it

Since AI arrived three years ago, I have lost count of the number of times I have redone things to keep up with the evolution and re-frame. We went from a few prompts to building systems, redoing tools, redoing my entire ecosystem. And it is far from slowing down, it is accelerating.

It is the natural continuation of a stance I have held for a long time: going outside sourcing to find what can move it forward. Neuroscience for outreach messages. Growth hacking applied to sourcing (first francophone conference on the subject). Today, AI, for everything else, from raw sourcing to the creation of tools made available to the HR community via the Gates AI Lab.

This site is proof: designed and coded entirely with AI. But never AI alone. AI and me. Me and my AI right hand. My ideas, my intent, and no more friction on the way to delivery.

Ethical line

Sourcing handles sensitive data. No magic black box, no all-in-one tool that decides instead of the human. Confidentiality, ethics, vigilance against bias. The goal is an augmented human, never a replaced human.

« No man ever steps in the same river twice. »
Heraclitus · 5th century BC
The man behind the workshop

Who I really am.

Guillaume Alexandre, candid portrait
Outside the workshop

Let me say it upfront: I am not a geek. I have not seen The Lord of the Rings. I gave up video games somewhere between the Wii and the urge to go outside. I am not a computer scientist either, even if I fix my neighbours' PCs and tell them which phone to buy.

What I am is curious. Unbearably curious. As a kid, the screwdrivers had to be hidden: I needed to understand what was inside. Thirty years later, it is no longer toasters, it is systems, organisations, human interactions. Cogs, whether of brass or of people.

That curiosity carries on outside the office. Renovating the house from a tutorial. Wandering through a DIY store with a problem and an infinity of ways to solve it. Painting (badly). Sewing my daughter's soft toys myself. Learning woodwork by listening to podcasts.

That, we can talk about.

The workshop I built for myself

Knowing your own mechanism.

I have ADHD. Diagnosed, certified, looked after, long before it became a LinkedIn category. If I mention it here, it is not for fashion: it is because it explains the workshop.

I know how I work. I know what puts me in flow and what breaks it. Gates Solutions was not designed to grow, Gates was designed so I can do the best possible work, in a setup that respects how I function. It is a setting, not a machine. My well-being and the understanding of my mechanism will always come before revenue considerations.

Paradoxically, that is probably why my clients come back. A stable sourcer, who knows how to say no when a mission is not for them, who is not dragging fifty open files, who has structured their setup, that is rarer than people think.

Frequently asked

What I get asked the most.

What is a sourcer, concretely?

A sourcer identifies, qualifies and engages candidates by direct approach, without job ads or CV databases. They work upstream of the recruiter, on hard-to-find or hard-to-attract profiles, those who are not looking, those already in role, those no one else can identify.

What is the difference with a recruiter or a head-hunter?

A recruiter selects and assesses candidates already identified. A head-hunter charges a percentage of the hire compensation, which creates a conflict of interest: they have a financial incentive to see the candidate they sourced sign rather than another.

A sourcer works flat-fee per day, in full transparency with the in-house team. No percentage, no incentive to push one candidate over another. The mission is to bring the right people, the final decision stays with the client.

Which profiles do you work on?

On hard-to-fill roles. In practice: cutting-edge technical profiles (R&D, deep tech, quantum computing, AI), executive search, luxury and watchmaking. All sectors where a job ad is not enough and where you have to go and find the right people where they are.

Geographic scope: Europe and international. United States excluded for regulatory reasons.

Do you work in French and in English?

Yes, indifferently. Missions, training and conferences run in both languages. Half my clients are francophone, the other half international.

Where are you based? Do you travel?

Based in Le Brassus, in the Vallée de Joux (canton of Vaud, Switzerland), 50 minutes from Geneva. Gates Solutions Sàrl is a Swiss company (UID CHE-210.509.281).

Most work happens by video call. Travel happens when it serves the mission: kick-off, culture immersion, on-site intervention. No travel on principle.

How much does a sourcing mission cost?

Flat-fee per day, public pricing, no percentage at hire. A typical mission represents 30 days of sourcing spread across two months. The scoping defines the perimeter; the fee is communicated in the first conversation.

Pricing is public because pricing opacity is one of the curses of this craft. No games on complexity, no variable at hire, no grey zone.

How does a mission unfold, concretely?

In-depth brief, immersion in the client's culture and data, identification and qualification of profiles by direct approach, hand-over to the in-house recruiter for assessment. The sourcer remains the human interface between the market and the company throughout the mission.

At the end, the client leaves with a team in orbit, but also with market intelligence: what the talent thinks of the employer brand, what attracts them or puts them off, where the pools sit, which competitors are moving. Sourcing produces knowledge as much as hires.

How do I contact you?

Three doors:

, By email at [email protected] or by phone at +41 79 962 41 92.

, Via the three-ways-in form on the homepage.

, By booking an Open Office Hours slot: twice a week, twenty minutes of free video call, no sales agenda.

Their turn

Their turn to talk about it.

A decade of interviews, podcasts, written portraits. To dig deeper without going through me, and to verify that what is said here can be found elsewhere.

01 On air

January 2019 · 38 min
Radio LEDR, L'École du Recrutement

« Trouver le bonheur en sourçant, avec Mr Sourcing »

First guest of the leading French-language recruitment podcast, hosted by Aurélien Boutaudou. Recorded at the Sourcing Summit Europe in Amsterdam, October 2018.

Listen on Apple Podcasts ↗
May 2020 · Podcast
Recruitee Radio, Les Innovateurs du Recrutement

« Sourcer avec un petit budget »

Interview with Pierre Vandenberghe on sourcing techniques accessible to any structure, from Boolean to creativity in the direct approach.

Read the transcript ↗
April 2021 · Webinar
The Executive Research Association

« LinkedIn algorithm & the forces behind search results »

Masterclass on the deep workings of the LinkedIn search engine, the forces that decide its results, and a presentation of freesourcingtools.com.

Event page ↗
2019 · Video
HR Today, Switzerland

« Il y a un lien extrêmement fort entre sourcing et marque employeur »

Video interview for HR Today, the leading Swiss HR media, on the link between advanced sourcing and employer-brand strategy.

Watch the interview ↗

02 In the press

2020 · Business magazine
Bilan, French-speaking Switzerland

Sourcing, the craft reshaping recruitment.

Interview by Julie Müller in the leading French-Swiss business bi-monthly. The portrait of an independent sourcer in a Swiss economy in deep transformation.

View the article ↗
2019 · Article + video
HR Today, Marc Benninger

« Le sourceur »

Portrait in the leading Swiss HR magazine, on the occasion of the second SourceCon GrandMaster Challenge final in Seattle. « One of the best sourcers in the world. »

Read the portrait ↗
October 2024 · Long-form portrait
Les Talents Narratifs, France

« Le portrait de Guillaume Alexandre, The People Attraction Theory »

Full biographical portrait, from Cognac to Meta Reality Labs via Geneva and the creation of Gates Solutions. The most complete narrative reference to date.

Read the portrait ↗
February 2023 · Interview
Solantis, Recruitment firm

« Guillaume Alexandre, sourceur star »

A thorough conversation about the craft, the sourcing community, and the conviction that a good sourcer combines a data brain and a relationship brain.

Read the interview ↗
January 2023 · Interview · EN
WizardSourcer, Jonathan Kidder

« Guillaume Alexandre Interview Spotlight »

English interview on the practice of behavioural sourcing, identifying profiles via online behaviour, and the collaboration with a neuroscientist to fine-tune outreach.

Read the interview ↗
Interview · EN
AmazingHiring, Yulia Kuzmane

« Sourcing Guru Interview: Guillaume Alexandre »

Portrait in the "Sourcing Gurus" series: the story of Mr_Sourcing, the PMI chapter (13 months structuring a global sourcing function), and the philosophy of Gates Solutions as a « sourcing lab ».

Read the interview ↗
November 2020 · Training feedback
Happy Recruteur, Amélie Arnaud

« Bref, j'ai fait la formation de sourcing de Guillaume Alexandre »

Feedback from Amélie Arnaud, freelance recruiter, after the People Attraction Theory bootcamp in Paris. « By far, the BEST sourcing training that exists. »

Read the feedback ↗
2018 → · Signed articles
L'École du Recrutement, Author

Contributions to the leading French-language recruitment media

Signed articles on sourcing culture, the evolution of the craft, and the recruiter profession in France. Regular column within the LEDR community.

See the articles ↗
Signed articles · EN
ERE Media, Author

Column on the leading US recruitment media

Four technical articles published on ERE.net, the leading English-language recruitment and sourcing media, on the practice of sourcing in large companies and advanced techniques.

Read articles ↗
Interview · DE
Competitive Recruiting, Germany

« Interview with the Vice World Champion of Sourcing »

German-language interview about the craft after the 2017 SourceCon GrandMaster final. Everything is available online, you just have to work, push your limits and learn from your peers.

Lesen Sie das Interview ↗

Note · Non-exhaustive selection. For conference videos, see LinkedIn or write directly.

And now

You have read this far.

That probably means we have something to talk about. The three doors are open.

To the three ways in →